[ItendToDisagree]

Or being the guy who 'legitimized' the drone war and killing of American citizens without a trial. Institutionalizing the president's power to decide who dies under the "disposition matrix" (kill list).

Note: Not saying Anwar al-Awlaki was a good guy, or blameless, or anything of the sort. But it is still killing an American citizen from afar without so much as a thought of a trial.

[CWuestefeld]

I'm with you, right up to the point of "an American citizen". As I see it, the right to a speedy jury trial, etc., don't come from being a citizen. These things came from the natural rights philosophy that Madison and others viewed the world through when creating our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Hence, the right to a trial comes simply from the fact of being a person. No citizenship or residency required.

(I grant that reconciling this with acts of war makes it much more murky)

[ItendToDisagree]

Agreed. It just makes it even more egregious, being that a citizen doesn't even get that right, which is written into the Constitution.